1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medicine feeding apparatus, and more particularly, to a medicine feeding apparatus, which can prevent medicine from being damaged in the course of being dispensed in the case where medicine products are not equal in shape or are fragile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there are various kinds and shapes of medicine products.
Especially, ampoules or vials are not equal in shape and automated feeding thereof is difficult. These ampoules or vials tend to be easily damaged even by low shock because they are made of fragile glass and have a recessed portion between upper and lower ends thereof to allow a user to use medicine received in an ampoule by pressing the recessed portion.
There are also pouch type medicine products in which medicine is put into a paper or vinyl pouch having an open end and the open end of the pouch is sealed before the medicine product is dispensed to patients.
In the case of the pouch type medicine products, pouches become unequal in shape depending on medicine, such as tablets or medicinal powder, received in the pouches and thus, are likely to be damaged upon collision therebetween, which may cause invasion of foreign substances into the pouches or discharge of medicine from the pouches, resulting in damage to medicine.
In addition, Press Through Pack (PTP) type medicine products are prepared by putting medicine into a receptacle conforming to the shape of the medicine and attaching a cover to an opening of the receptacle by, e.g., lamination, to allow a user to tear off the cover and take the medicine.
The PTP type medicine products are generally made of a material to allow the user to easily tear off the cover and tend to be easily damaged even by low shock, thus requiring careful handling in storage or feeding of medicine.
There is a demand for an automated medicine feeding apparatus capable of automatically feeding all the above described medicine products without a risk of damage to medicine.
In addition, storage and feeding of medicine to be dispensed based on a prescription should be carefully handled, and in the case of special medicine, only an authorized user should be allowed to access the medicine.